Ex-Superintendent Lance Hindt endorses Katy ISD board candidates

Former Superintendent Lance Hindt listens during the Katy ISD board meeting at the Education Support Complex in Katy on May 21, 2018.

Photo: Michael Wyke, freelance / For the Chronicle

Former Katy Independent School District superintendent Lance Hindt is endorsing two candidates — including one who has no opponent — for the open seats on the KISD board of trustees.

On a YouTube video taken at a campaign rally, Hindt is seen strongly backing Donald “Duke” Keller and Lance Redmon for the school board seats. Keller is a candidate for the Position 1 seat while Redmon is running unopposed in the Position 2 race.

Sporting a full beard and calling himself a “recovering superintendent,” Hindt touted his long career in education — including about 10 years serving as superintendent in three school districts — while offering his ideas about what is needed in a school board member.

“They have to have a heart — a huge heart — for students and staff,” Hindt told the crowd.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Redmon is assured a seat on the board but Keller is running against current trustee Rebecca Fox and controversial community activist Sean Dolan. Fox, who could not be reached for comment, was slated to run against Redmon but switched at the last minute to contend for the Precinct 1 seat.

“Thank you Dr. Lance Hindt for your support and official endorsement. I continue to be humbled by the support that this community has displayed during this election season,” Lance Redmon posted on his campaign Facebook page.

In a clear jab at Fox and Dolan, Hindt said the voters should choose a board member who has a desire to serve and “not somebody who has a personal agenda or is a self-serving individual.”

While saying he wasn’t “naming names,” Hindt accused Fox and Dolan of being “self-serving.”

“I’ve been in the pits with them and I know how this works,” he said.

Hindt abruptly left office at the end of the year, pocketing a $770,000 payout from the school board, following months of tumult after he was accused of having been a bully while a student at West Memorial Junior High School. Dolan helped stoke the fire of the bullying controversy and later raised allegations that Hindt had plagiarized his doctoral thesis while a student at the University of Houston.

At the campaign event, Hindt said board members should accept that they won’t always get their way and eventually back the final decision of the majority.

“It is okay to agree to disagree,” he said. “What I see in quality board members are those that can agree to disagree, accept the majority of the board’s decision and move on 100 percent behind that decision.”

In a statement, Dolan said he is the only candidate in the race who will challenge the status quo and bring transparency to district operations.

“The notion from Lance Hindt that any debate should be done behind closed doors, without any public visibility and then board members should vote in lock-step with each other, irrespective of the views of their constituents, is contrary to the principles of democracy,” he said. “As a board member, one of my primary objectives is to bring as much of the conversation that happens behind closed doors to the visibility of the public as the law permits.”

Hindt said Keller and Redmon would both bring important backgrounds and skill sets to the Katy ISD board of trustees. Keller is a lawyer with a back in real estate that could come in handy in a fast-growing school district like Katy.

“We are buying property every single month,” Hindt said.

In addition to his work in business, Redmon has been a youth pastor and a pastor in his home church, Hindt said.

“He brings a good, strong faith to this school board that is needed in this day and time,” he said.

In addition to voting themselves, Hindt encouraged those at the campaign rally to bring others with them.

Mike Glenn grew up in the Navy but enlisted in the Army after graduating from high school in Rockwall, Texas. Following his honorable discharge, Glenn attended the University of Texas at Arlington where he received a BA in History and a commission as a lieutenant in the Army. He led a platoon of cavalry troopers in combat during the Gulf War. Glenn spent about six years in the Army - both as an enlisted soldier and officer. He then studied journalism in graduate school and began his career in the news business. He has worked as a newspaper reporter in the Dallas area, El Paso, San Antonio and now in Houston with the Houston Chronicle. Glenn is married and has a daughter in college.